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It's time to Create a Climate of Change! - Development and Peace launches new campaign as part of World Day of Prayer for Care of Creation

MONTREAL, Aug. 27, 2015 /CNW Telbec/ - The Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace is launching a new campaign called "Create a Climate of Change" on September 1st, which is World Day of Prayer for Care of Creation, to bring attention to the devastating impacts of climate change on some of the poorest countries in the world - and to ask Canada to do more to reduce the world's carbon emissions.

Development and Peace works in Ethiopia, Honduras and the Philippines, and many other countries in the Global South that are experiencing droughts, typhoons and other extreme weather due to rising temperatures. These countries, however, contribute the least to climate change and lack the means to deal with the ensuing catastrophes, whose worst impacts are felt by the poorest.

Canada is one of the biggest carbon emitters in the world, and as such the campaign is asking Canadians to make lifestyle changes that will reduce carbon emissions and to call on the Canadian government to transition away from a fossil-fuel dependent economy to one based on energy efficiency and renewable energy.

The campaign is also asking the Canadian government to adopt a fair and binding agreement at the United Nations' Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris in December.

"Canada's emissions per capita are 150 times higher than Ethiopia's, yet it is the poorest people in Ethiopia who are suffering the most. How is this fair? Canada has a significant role to play in ensuring that the Earth's temperature does not reach levels that threaten the lives of people living in the Global South," says David Leduc, Executive Director of Development and Peace.

Pope Francis' encyclical "Laudato Si" calls for urgent action on climate change, and the Pope has designated September 1st as World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation. Here in Canada, events will be taking place in schools, parishes and communities across the country as part of this new campaign, including climate vigils from October 23-25. Development and Peace will also have a delegation that will take part in the Catholic pilgrimage to Paris for COP21. To learn more: devp.org.